1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a food container, and in particular to a chip and dip tray suitable for vertical display in a retail environment, that contains a chip product in a bag and a dip product in a cup or can nested in a form-fit tray. The tray is sealed with a cover and serves the dual function of packaging the product and acting as a convenient serving container for the product during consumption of the product.
2. Description of Related Art
Various container and package designs have been used in the past to contain and display food products. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,874, Hustad et al., describes a rigid plastic base tray having at least three compartments covered with a flexible film that hermetically seals each of the compartments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,105, Roman et al., discloses a circular container comprised of two compartments hermetically sealed by a film placed over the top of the two compartments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,920, Weaver, Jr., discloses a food package consistent of two separate compartments covered by sealing means.
None of the prior art, however, teaches a food container that efficiently packages a bag of chips or like product with a cup or can of dip or like product that can both provide a vertical display, retail packaging function and act as a tray for use by the consumer after the product is opened. None of the prior art containers would be suitable for use with a bag of chips and a cup of dip and presenting this combination in a package arrangement that takes advantage of the inherent shape of the bag and cup to provide a functional tray and efficient package design.
Accordingly, a need exists for a chip and dip tray container designed to contain a bag of chips or like product and a cup of dip or like product utilizing a design that takes advantage of the geometry of the bag and the cup. The container should be as compact as possible yet provide for a vertical display when propped on one end. Such container should also serve as a functional tray in which the chips can be poured into and the dip cup nested while the product is being consumed after the container has been opened. Ideally, the chip and dip tray design should be suitable for containing standard size food packages, thus requiring a minimal amount of dedicated manufacturing resources and maximum operational flexibility.